


The Longest Night

by Heronstairs2014



Series: Every Breath You Take [7]
Category: The Infernal Devices Series - Cassandra Clare
Genre: Gen, Sick Will Herondale, cystic fibrosis
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-14
Updated: 2020-06-14
Packaged: 2021-03-04 01:07:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 11,117
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24725014
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Heronstairs2014/pseuds/Heronstairs2014
Summary: The automaton explodes, and that's just the beginning.
Relationships: Charlotte Branwell & Jem Carstairs, Jem Carstairs & Will Herondale
Series: Every Breath You Take [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1273214
Comments: 2
Kudos: 10





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This takes place at the end of Clockwork Prince. It got very long, so it's split up into two chapters. I didn't want to make it longer and add in Will and Magnus dealing with Will's curse, so that will be the next story that I post. Please leave a review if you liked it!

The automaton exploded.

Jem had thrown himself behind a pillar just in time, but from the scream he heard, it sounded like Nate had not been so lucky. He could see Charlotte and Henry huddled together behind a nearby pillar, but he couldn’t see Will or Tessa from where he was. He could only hope that they were safe and protected from the blast.

The explosion seemed to last forever, but it was really only a minute or two. When it was finally over and there weren’t shards of razor-sharp metal flying through the air, Jem used the pillar to pull himself up and quickly looked around the side to make sure the danger was over. His leg was still healing and was very sore, but he didn’t care. He had to make sure his friends were alright.

Jem stepped out from behind the pillar in time to see Tessa running towards her brother. He was standing against a pillar with a large shard of metal going straight through his chest and apparently pinning him to the pillar. If he survived, he would definitely need medical attention, but Jem couldn’t go help Tessa now. He had to find Will first.

Jem’s eyes followed the path Tessa had taken to her brother back to where Will was just starting to prop himself up on his elbows on the floor. He was shaking and looked like he was in no condition to be getting up. Jem immediately took off towards him, but his still-healing leg slowed him down and Will was already up on his hands and knees before he could get there.

As soon as he got close enough, Jem could tell that something was wrong. Will was gritting his teeth as if in pain and his hands were clenched in fists. From where he was, Jem could see drops of blood hitting the ground under Will, but he couldn't tell where they were coming from.

It all became clear when he finally got to Will.

Jem dropped down to his knees next to Will and was about to ask him if he was having trouble breathing when he saw Will's back. Dozens of razor-sharp shards of metal had ripped through his gear and were now stuck in his skin. Jem put his hand over his mouth in shock and sat back on his heels. “By the angel,” he whispered. “You need to be laying down right now.”

Jem was trying to figure out the best way to get Will back down on the ground when he heard Tessa call Will’s name. He turned around to make sure she was alright and by the time he turned back towards Will, he had pulled one leg up under himself in an attempt to stand. It was bad enough already that he wasn’t laying down, and standing would be even worse. He needed to do something before Will got all the way up.

And then Will started coughing.

Jem didn’t have to worry about Will standing up anymore because his arms were apparently too weak from the pain and blood loss to hold him up and they gave out a minute into the coughing fit. Jem caught Will just before he hit the ground and slowly lowered him down with his head in his lap.

“Just breathe, Will,” Jem said, gently running his fingers through Will’s hair. “You’ll be fine, you just have to breathe.”

The coughing fit finally died down after a minute or two, but that didn’t mean the danger was over. Will was still gasping for breath in Jem’s lap and there was blood pooling on the floor under them. It seemed to be everywhere. It was on the floor, on Jem’s hands, on Will’s gear, and it had somehow gotten in Will’s hair, as Jem soon discovered. Jem quickly pulled out his stele and drew an _amissio_ on the closest uninjured patch of skin he could find. It wouldn’t do much, but it could help with the blood loss until they could get the metal out and use an _iratze_.

“Jem?” he heard from behind him. He turned around to see Charlotte and Henry standing there, looking very concerned at the amount of blood on the floor around them. “What happened?” Charlotte asked, kneeling next to Will.

“I think he protected Tessa from the blast,” Jem said, turning his attention back to Will, who was blinking slowly and staring off into the distance. “He’s lost a lot of blood and he was coughing, which probably made it worse.”

“The Silent Brothers need to see him,” Charlotte said. She reached down and put her fingers on Will’s neck to check his pulse.

Will was so still and pale in his lap that Jem would have thought he was dead if it wasn’t for the wheezing he could hear every time Will exhaled. He was still losing blood, though not as quickly as before, and Jem wasn’t sure how much longer he would be able to stay awake. He was worried that he wouldn’t wake up again if he passed out.

“We have to get him back to the Institute first,” Jem said. “We’ll have to find something to carry him on. I don’t want him moving around on his own and coughing more.”

“Did you use an _amissio_?” Charlotte asked. Jem nodded and was about to ask if he should put another one on Will when he heard the sound of shuffling feet and then, “Will?”

Jem looked up to see Tessa standing behind them, staring down at Will. She had blood on her hands, which he assumed was from her brother, and blood was running down her face from a large cut on her forehead that she hadn’t seemed to notice yet.

“Where’s Nathaniel?” Charlotte asked quietly.

“He’s dead,” Tessa said. “What happened to Will?”

“He covered you to protect you from the explosion,” Jem told her.

Her face instantly changed from confusion to guilt. “Will he be alright?”

Jem nodded, trying to reassure both her and himself. “He’ll be fine.”

“Can’t you use an _iratze_?” Tessa asked. “That would heal him, right?”

Charlotte shook her head. “If we used one, his skin would just heal over the metal. It needs to be taken out first.”

“Then we have to get him back to the Institute. Is there some way we can carry him without making it worse?”

Jem reluctantly pulled his focus away from Will and looked up at Tessa. The blood from the gash on her forehead was still running down her face and it was obvious that she still didn’t know it was there. He didn’t want her to help move Will if she was injured, for both their sakes.

“Tessa,” he said, “do you know you’re injured?”

She looked down at the blood on her shirt and hands from Nate and said, “It’s not mine. I’m alright.”

Jem shook his head. “No, that’s not it. You have a gash on your forehead.”

Tessa frowned in confusion and reached up to touch the gash. As soon as she felt it, her eyes closed and her legs buckled. Jem would have caught her, but he was too preoccupied with his injured _parabatai_ to be there in time. Luckily, Henry had been standing right next to her and caught her just in time. Charlotte jumped up and helped him carefully lower her to the ground, then pulled out a handkerchief and pressed it to the gash.

“I’ll take care of her,” she said to Henry. “Go find something to carry Will on and then we’ll get them both home.”

INFERNAL.DEVICES.INFERNAL.DEVICES.INFERNAL.DEVICES

The carriage ride back to the Institute was a very stressful one. Charlotte, Henry, and Tessa were all on one seat while Jem knelt on the floor next to Will. They had laid him on his side on the other seat and Jem was there to make sure that he stayed awake and didn’t roll onto his back.

From where Charlotte was sitting, she couldn’t see Will’s face, but she immediately knew something was wrong when Jem tensed up and started calling Will’s name. He moved over a little bit, just enough for her to be able to see Will’s face, and she saw that his eyes were closed. That had happened a few times already, but he had opened his eyes again a few seconds later. That wasn’t happening this time.

As soon as they pulled up in front of the Institute, Cyril jumped down from the driver’s seat and ran inside to get a stretcher from the infirmary. Henry followed soon after with Tessa, but Charlotte wasn’t sure where to go. She wanted to go inside and help with Tessa, but Will was hurt worse than she was and he had passed out. She didn’t want to go inside and have him suddenly get worse with only Jem to help.

Jem must have noticed her indecision, because he smiled up at her and said, “We’ll be fine out here for a few minutes. You can go inside. The Silent Brothers still have to be called, right?”

“Yes, of course,” Charlotte said. She took one last look at Will, then left the carriage.

Jem watched her go, then turned back to Will. He had been trying to stay calm for Charlotte, but he was worried. Will had been unconscious for a few minutes now and nothing Jem did was waking him up. He kept telling himself that Will would be fine, but he was starting to think that he wasn’t going to wake up again.

Cyril finally came back outside with the stretcher a minute later and helped Jem very carefully get Will onto it. They carried him inside and then had to repeat the process to get him onto a bed in the infirmary. Once that was done, Cyril left to put the stretcher away and Jem went over to the shelves on the wall to find a pair of scissors. They usually tried to repair gear when it was ripped or damaged in some way, but the metal had already destroyed it and there was no point in trying to get it off in one piece.

When he had found the scissors, Jem went back to Will and started cutting the gear away. He cut straight up the middle as much as possible, but it ended up looking like more of a jagged line when he had to go around the metal a few times. It was a bit difficult to pull the remnants of the gear out from under Will since they had put him on his stomach on the bed, but after some tugging, the ruined gear was finally in a pile on the ground, with Will’s shoes quickly joining them. He pulled the sheet up over Will just as Charlotte walked in and stopped next to him.

“How is he?” she asked.

“He still hasn’t woken up,” Jem said. “And I wish he wasn’t lying face down but that’s the only way he can lay right now. How’s Tessa?”

“She’s alright,” Charlotte said. She pointed over to one of the beds a few beds away from where Will was. “She’s right over there.”

Jem turned to look and sure enough, Tessa was lying in a bed a few feet away. The wound on her forehead had stopped bleeding and someone had wiped the blood away, but it didn’t look like she had woken up at all.

“I didn’t even notice that she was here,” he said.

Charlotte put her hand on his shoulder and squeezed lightly. “It’s alright. You were focusing on Will. He’s probably a bit worse off than she is right now anyway.”

“That he is,” Jem said, nodding. “Are the Silent Brothers coming?”

“They’re on their way.” Charlotte moved closer to the bed and looked at the amount of blood that had soaked into the sheets in the short time that Will had been there. “I’d say it’s time for another _amissio_.”

Jem pulled his stele out and drew an _amissio_ in roughly the same place as he had done the last one. He wished he could just draw an _iratze_ and not have to worry anymore, but that would just make everything worse and make what the Silent Brothers were coming there to do a lot harder.

By the time the Silent Brothers arrived, neither Will nor Tessa had woken up and Jem was starting to panic. Will hadn’t gotten much worse, but he certainly hadn’t gotten any better and there was a slight rattling noise when he breathed that hadn’t been there before. It sounded like his physical therapy needed to be done, but Jem couldn’t figure out how it could be done with him unconscious and a bunch of metal in his back.

Jem was just starting to think of what they could do to wake Will up before he got much worse when Charlotte came in with Brother Enoch and Brother Micah behind her. He stood up from where he had been sitting on the edge of Will’s bed so he could get out of the way quickly and make more room for whichever Silent Brother to help Will.

 _What is the extent of their injuries?_ Brother Enoch asked.

“Tessa has a gash on her forehead, but we aren’t sure if it’s just a cut or if she hit her head,” Charlotte said. “She fell unconscious in the warehouse and hasn’t woken up since.”

_And William?_

“He protected Tessa from the explosion and the metal shredded the back of his gear,” Jem answered. “I’ve already used two _amissios_ but he’s still bleeding. He’s also not breathing very well.”

Brother Enoch nodded. _I believe he is the more serious case, then. Brother Micah will examine Tessa while I examine him._

Brother Micah went over to Tessa’s bed and Charlotte followed him there. Brother Enoch came over to Will and Jem and immediately started examining the shards of metal in Will’s back. _You said he was not breathing well,_ he said as he worked. _What did you mean by that_?

“He was wheezing before, and now there’s a rattling sound when he breathes,” Jem said. “It’s probably just mucus but I want to make sure it isn’t serious.”

 _It most likely is caused by his illness,_ Brother Enoch said, _but there could be blood in his lungs. Any of these shards could be long enough to damage them._

Jem immediately paled. He had thought about the possibility of there being blood in Will’s lungs or the metal causing some sort of internal damage, but he had pushed those thoughts out of his head as soon as they appeared. Having his thoughts voiced by a Silent Brother, even if it was still just a possibility, cemented them into his mind. “What can you do if that turns out to be the case?” he asked.

 _If that is the case, the iratzes that we will use to heal his back should also heal the internal damage. If it does not heal the damage, then there is not much else that can be done._ Brother Enoch straightened up from where he had been bent over Will and said, _Now, we must prepare. I will need a pair of tweezers, a bowl to put the shards in, supplies to clean the wounds, and bandages. The tweezers will have to be sterilized._

Jem went to the shelves where he had found the scissors again and located a pair of tweezers first. He took them over to the fireplace and put them in the pot of boiling water that Sophie had at some point put there for this exact purpose. While they were being sterilized, he found the other supplies and carried them over to Brother Enoch in the bowl for the shards. Included in those supplies was a smaller bowl that he would undoubtedly be using to catch something else later. As Brother Enoch was setting up, Jem went back to the fire for the tweezers and brought them over.

 _I would suggest applying a painkilling rune and another amissio before we begin,_ Brother Enoch said. Jem nodded and drew the two runes just under where he had put the last _amissio_. Brother Enoch picked up the tweezers and said, _Ready?_

Jem nodded again. “I’m ready.”

Brother Enoch reached down and grabbed one of the pieces of metal in the tweezers, then swiftly pulled it out. Jem had been expecting either no reaction from Will or just a small flinch and was very unprepared when his eyes snapped open and he immediately tried to roll onto his side away from Brother Enoch. Jem had to move fast to keep him down before he did even more damage.

 _You will have to calm him down before we continue,_ Brother Enoch said. He had already dropped the shard into the bowl and was ready to take out the next one as soon as Jem had gotten Will to calm down.

Jem knelt down next to the bed and gently pulled Will’s hand away from where it was clenched in the sheet under him. “It’s alright,” he whispered. “We’re just taking the metal out. We can’t use an _iratze_ until it’s all gone. Do you understand that?”

Will looked panicked and in pain, but he nodded anyway. Jem smiled and said, “Good. Do you want another painkilling rune?” Will nodded again and Jem stood up and drew another painkilling rune near the first one. It wouldn’t do much more to help, but it would make it slightly more bearable. “He’s ready,” he said to Brother Enoch.

The Silent Brother raised his tweezers to take out the next shard. Jem gently squeezed Will’s hand, knowing that he would regret holding it in a few seconds. Brother Enoch pulled out the second shard and Will’s hand immediately tightened on Jem’s. He could tell just from looking that every one of Will’s muscles was tensed and he was taking the deepest breaths that he possibly could. Jem felt horrible that his _parabatai_ was in so much pain, but he was also extremely relieved that he was awake after being unconscious for so long.

Jem turned around to check on Tessa and saw Charlotte looking at him and Will with concern while Brother Micah was bandaging Tessa’s head. He didn’t doubt that she had seen Will’s reaction to the first shard coming out and he knew that she was going to be fussing over him for a few days even after he was healed.

The removal of the next few shards went very similarly. Jem was tasked with cleaning every wound as soon as the metal was out so they didn’t have to waste time cleaning them all when all of the metal was removed. He had already been sent once to empty the bowl of the shards and it was already almost full again. It seemed like they were almost halfway done, which he was very happy to see. His hand was starting to get very sore.

Brother Micah had finished with Tessa a while ago and he and Charlotte had left the infirmary. Before she left, Charlotte had put her hand on Jem’s shoulder and told him that she would be just outside if he needed her. He had been about to answer her when Brother Enoch pulled another shard out and his focus went right back to Will.

Brother Enoch was getting ready to pull yet another shard out when Jem realized how much more pronounced the rattling noise had become and stopped him. He was pretty sure that Will was going to start coughing very soon and the position he was currently in was not going to be any help.

“He’s going to need to cough soon,” Jem explained to the Silent Brother. “He should be sitting up. Can he do that or is it too dangerous?”

Brother Enoch immediately put down his tweezers. _We will sit him up, then._

The two of them very carefully helped Will get his legs over the side of the bed and sit up. They had to stop for a few seconds whenever the pain got too bad to continue, but eventually he was sitting up with one hand fisted in the sheets and the other holding Jem’s arm above his elbow. Jem could see that he was breathing very shallowly in an attempt to not cough, but he wasn’t actually coughing yet.

 _He needs to cough,_ Brother Enoch said. He was standing on the other side of the bed behind Will and wiping up the blood that was dripping onto the sheets. _It will help clear his airway and tell us if he has blood in his lungs or not._

“Did you hear that?” Jem said, crouching down in front of Will. “I know it hurts, but you need to cough. The sooner you do that, the sooner the rest of the metal can come out and we can use an _iratze_.”

Apparently that had convinced Will because he immediately started coughing when Jem finished speaking. Jem grabbed the bowl he had brought over just for that purpose and waited. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the infirmary door open and Charlotte step inside. She must have heard the coughing from outside and wanted to make sure Will was alright. He could understand why, since it sounded a lot worse than usual.

A few minutes after Will started coughing, Jem heard the telltale change in how the coughs sounded and got the bowl into position. After a few seconds, Will was spitting the mucus he had just coughed up into the bowl and Jem’s heart instantly sped up thinking of what he might see when he looked. He hoped with everything he had that it was just mucus, but he knew that there was a possibility that there would be blood too.

Jem waited until all the mucus was out to look. By the time that happened, Will was gritting his teeth in pain and there was more blood running out of the wounds than there had been before he had started cough. Jem pulled the bowl away and reluctantly looked inside to see mucus and only mucus. He silently thanked Raziel for that and then turned to Brother Enoch and said, “There’s no blood.”

 _Then his lungs are undamaged,_ Brother Enoch said. _If he is finished coughing, then we should continue._

Jem looked down and was about to ask Will if he was done coughing when his eyes closed and he went limp. Jem grabbed him before he could fall backward and make his injuries worse and grabbed Will’s wrist to find his pulse. When he did, it was weak and fast, which told him that Will had lost a lot of blood even with three _amissios_. He looked up at Brother Enoch in panic, hoping that the Silent Brother would know what to do.

 _He has lost a large amount of blood,_ Brother Enoch said as Charlotte came rushing over. _We need to continue so that an iratze can be used. If he loses much more blood it will be at a dangerous level._

Jem and Brother Enoch carefully got Will laying down again and got ready to continue removing the metal. It went a lot faster than it had when they were sitting him up because they didn’t have to stop every few seconds because of the pain. Brother Enoch prepared his tweezers and Jem got the cloth and disinfectant ready. He was expecting a reaction similar to the one when the first piece of metal had been pulled out, but as Brother Enoch pulled yet another shard free, Will didn’t so much as twitch. Jem tried to be glad that Will wasn’t feeling the pain, but it was overpowered by the worry he felt that something so painful did nothing to wake Will up.

It took longer than Jem would have liked, but about twenty minutes later, all of the metal had been removed. Jem quickly cleaned off the last wound, then moved away as Brother Enoch stepped forward with a stele. He watched as the Silent Brother drew a few _iratzes_ on Will’s back and added another _amissio_. Usually just one or two _iratzes_ would suffice, but they seemed to work slower and were less effective than usual on Will. The Silent Brothers had never been able to explain why, but they assumed that it had something to do with his illness.

As soon as the runes were drawn, Jem stepped forward again and started cleaning the blood off of Will’s back. The bleeding still wasn’t entirely stopped, but he didn’t worry about it because Brother Enoch was standing ready with bandages. When he was done cleaning off the blood, Jem gently rolled Will into his side and pulled him up slightly so Brother Enoch could easily get the bandages on.

A minute later, Brother Enoch straightened up from where he had been crouched over Will and said, _The bandages are secure. You can lay him back down_.

Jem did what Brother Enoch said, but he didn’t roll Will back onto his stomach. “Can he stay on his side?” he asked. “I’m worried he won’t get enough air if he stays face down.”

 _As long as he stays relatively still, it should be alright. If he does wake up, try to keep him from moving too much,_ Brother Enoch said.

Jem nodded and watched as the Silent Brother walked away to clean the tools they had used. He couldn’t help but think about Brother Enoch had said “If he wakes up” instead of “When he wakes up.” He may have just meant Will waking up before he was fully healed, but Jem could only see it to mean “If he doesn’t die.” He was trying to be hopeful, but he knew it was not looking good at all. Will had lost even more blood after passing out from blood loss, and his breathing was very shallow with a slight rattling sound. He was going to have to prepare himself for the worst.

Jem jumped when he felt a hand on his shoulder and turned around to see Charlotte standing behind him. He had forgotten that she was there in all the panic after Will passed out.

“How is he?” she asked gently.

“He’s… not doing well,” Jem said. He reached up to rub his tired eyes and wasn’t surprised to find his cheeks wet from tears.

“Is there anything I can do to help?”

“Just…” Jem turned to look at Tessa, then turned back to Charlotte. “Take care of her. I can’t leave him, and if something happens with her…”

“Don’t worry, Charlotte said. “I’ll watch over her. You can focus on him.”

“Thank you,” Jem said.

Charlotte smiled at him. “You should rest. At least sit down,” she added when Jem opened his mouth to protest. “I’ll go tell Bridget to have some broth ready for when they wake up.” She took her hand off of his shoulder and left the infirmary, but not before looking pointedly at the chair next to Will’s bed as she went out the door.

Charlotte had only been gone for a few minutes when Brother Enoch came back from cleaning the tools. Jem had to pull his eyes away from Will to look up at him and immediately wanted to look back down at Will again.

“Will he be alright?” he asked.

 _We will see,_ Brother Enoch answered. _He has lost a lot of blood and I imagine that the dust from the explosion has not been beneficial. He will most likely survive, but because of his injuries and his illness, he could deteriorate very quickly._

“And if he does? Will you be able to get here in time to help him?”

_I will be staying in the Institute until his condition improves. If anything happens, I will be nearby._

Jem nodded in understanding, but what Brother Enoch had said did nothing to quell his worry. If anything, he was now even more worried. If Brother Enoch felt the need to stay at the Institute in case Will got worse, then that meant it was bad.

Jem waited until Brother Enoch had left the infirmary to sit down in the chair Charlotte had told him to sit in. He was exhausted and wanted nothing more than to just go to bed and sleep for days, but he couldn’t leave Will. Especially not now. Instead, he pulled his stele out and drew an energy rune on his arm, then leaned forward and put his elbows on his knees.

“You have to hold on, Will,” he whispered. “You can’t let some measly pieces of metal take you out. Imagine what Gabriel will say. We’ll never hear the end of it.”

It took Jem a second to realize that he was doing exactly what Will would do in this situation: use humor to cover up pain or worry. He couldn’t remember a single time that he had ever done that before coming to London, so it was fairly obvious that it had come from Will. Will apparently just had that effect on him, because there were other things that had changed about him since meeting Will. For example, not all of the slices of chocolate cake that mysteriously disappeared from the kitchen were taken by Will.

There was a knock on the door and Jem looked up in time to see Sophie walking in with a bowl and a cloth. “Charlotte thought you might need these,” she said as she put them down on the bedside table, then pulled a thermometer out of the pocket of her apron. “And this too, just in case.”

“Thank you,” Jem said. The bowl she had put down was full of water and he could see some chunks of ice floating on the surface.

“You’re welcome,” she said with a small curtsy. “She also wanted me to tell you that she’ll be in with dinner for you soon.” She looked down at Will and frowned. “Will he be alright?”

Jem nodded. “Of course. He always is, isn’t he?”

“That he is,” she agreed. “Charlotte told me what he did. It was very brave.”

“Very brave but also very dangerous, as you can clearly see.” Jem looked back down at Will. He was glad that Tessa wasn’t too badly hurt, but he wasn’t glad that Will had ended up so badly injured.

“He’ll be fine, you’ll see,” Sophie said after a minute. “By this time tomorrow he’ll be up and running around annoying everyone as usual.”

Jem smiled, but it wasn’t really a true smile. He wanted to believe her, but it was hard when he could see the blood-spotted bandages on Will’s back and hear the rattling in his breath. “I hope to God you’re right,” he whispered.

Jem barely noticed when Sophie left, but he did notice when he reached out to take Will’s hand and was immediately met with hot skin. He picked up the thermometer that Sophie had left and took Will’s temperature as gently and in the least invasive way he could. It said his temperature was 39°, which wasn’t as high as it had been other times, but was still a fever. Jem put the thermometer down and replaced it with the cloth, which he put in the bowl of water to get it wet and then, after wringing it out, put it on Will’s forehead. He hoped that the fever was caused by Will’s illness and not by an infection from the metal, because he didn’t think Will would make it through the night if it was the latter.

Jem didn’t hear the door open and didn’t notice Charlotte was there until she stopped right next to him. He looked up at her and saw that she was carrying a tray with a plate, a glass of water, and a very familiar silver box on it. She placed the tray down and asked, “Does he have a fever?”

“It’s only 38°, but I don’t want it to get any higher,” Jem said. “Especially if it’s because of an infection from the metal.”

Charlotte nodded and gently squeezed his shoulder. “If it is an infection, Brother Enoch is right outside.” She moved behind him to where she had set the tray down and a few seconds later he heard the sound of her stirring the _yin fen_ into the glass of water. “Now, you need to take this and eat your food,” she said as she handed him the glass and put the tray in his lap.

“I can’t,” Jem told her. “I have to take care of him.”

Charlotte gently pulled his hand off of the cloth he had been holding on Will’s forehead and put her hand there instead. “I’ll do that. You eat.”

Jem sat back in his chair and watched as Charlotte sat on the side of the bed and started fussing over Will. He made sure to drink all of the _yin fen_ and water mixture before starting on the food. As he ate, he watched Charlotte dip the cloth back in the water and push Will’s wet hair out of his eyes before putting it back. The action seemed like something a mother would do and he knew that if she and Henry ever had a child, she would be the perfect mother. She had had a lot of practice over the years.

Jem tried eating as fast as he possibly could, but after seeing the look Charlotte gave him when she noticed, he slowed down. He wanted to get back to Will as soon as possible, but he didn’t want Charlotte to keep him from his _parabatai_ any longer because he ate too fast for her liking.

When he finally finished eating, Jem put the tray on the bedside table and said, “Done.” Charlotte looked up at him and nodded, then leaned down over Will and whispered something in his ear. Jem was too focused on Will to wonder what she had said, but he later learned that it was “You have to hold on for Jem.”

Charlotte stood up from her seat on the side of the bed and handed Jem the cloth. “He’s all yours,” she said. She went over to the door, then said, “Remember, Brother Enoch is right outside, so let him know if you or Will need anything.” Once Jem nodded to show that he understood, she opened the door and left.

Jem put the cloth back in the water and then put it on Will’s forehead again. It didn’t seem like his fever had gone down at all, but it had only been about half an hour since Jem had first checked. Unless he could tell that it was worse, he would wait another half hour before he checked again. There was no need to worry over something that probably hadn’t changed at all.

“I need you to survive this, Will,” Jem said. “I can’t lose you now.”


	2. Chapter 2

By the time Jem realized that the energy rune had worn off, he was already too asleep to draw another one. The part of his mind that was still awake realized what was happening and wanted to stay awake to take care of Will, but the part of his mind that had been awake for almost 18 hours now was too strong. He was going to fall asleep and there was nothing he could do to stop it.

And then someone started coughing.

Jem immediately jerked awake and opened his eyes to see Will coughing into the pillow he was laying on. He quickly got off the chair and dropped to his knees next to the bed, grabbing the cloth he had been using for Will’s fever on the way. He didn’t have time to get Will into a position to use a bowl in case anything came up, so the cloth would have to do. As soon as that was positioned near Will’s mouth, Jem grabbed Will’s shoulder and pulled him forward slightly to make sure he didn’t accidentally roll onto his back and ensure that any mucus would have an easy path out. It also let him keep an eye on the bandages to make sure nothing was reopened by the coughing.

The coughing fit was shorter than most, but it took its toll anyway. By the time it ended, Will was gritting his teeth in pain and one of his hands was scrabbling to find Jem’s. Jem noticed and grabbed that hand, which was immediately encased in a death grip that was stronger than he would have expected with the state Will was in. The coughing had brought nothing up and Jem tried to push away his worry at that and instead be happy that Will wasn’t coughing anymore because of the obvious pain it was causing him.

The cloth was still wet from being used earlier, so Jem moved it away before it could get the pillow wet and then looked back down at Will. Will was looking at him with wide panicked eyes, most likely trying to figure out exactly where he was and what was going on. After a few seconds, his gaze moved to something behind Jem. Jem didn’t want to take his eyes off of Will to look, but he was sure it was Tessa that Will was looking at.

“Is she alright?” Will asked. His voice was weaker than it should have been, but at least he was awake and talking.

“She’s fine, Will,” Jem said. “You, on the other hand, are very much not fine.”

“But she’s hurt,” Will said. “Why isn’t she awake?” Despite the fact that even those few words made him out of breath, Will moved the hand that wasn’t holding Jem’s in an obvious attempt to sit himself up.

Jem quickly grabbed Will’s arm before he could sit up and pulled it away so he couldn’t sit up. “She’s perfectly fine. She just hit her head.” It wasn’t entirely the truth, but it wasn’t completely a lie either. “You need to rest, alright? You’re injured and you have a fever. Just rest. I’ll make sure she’s okay.”

Will nodded as much as he could with the pillow there. “You’ll wake me up if anything changes, right?”

“Of course,” Jem answered, but Will probably couldn’t hear it. His eyes had already closed again and his breathing had evened out a little bit.

Jem waited a minute to make sure Will didn’t wake up again and then moved back to his chair. It would probably be best if he had another cloth that could be used in place of a bowl in case Will started coughing again. He wouldn’t have to worry about the cloth he was using for Will’s fever getting dirty and being unusable.

Jem took one last look at Will to make sure he was completely out before he got up and went over to the shelves again. He found the stack of clean cloths and took about half of the pile. He wasn’t sure how many he would need, so it was best to take more than was necessary than have to go running for more later. He took the cloths back to Will and picked up the thermometer. He’d started falling asleep before he could check Will’s temperature again and he wanted to make sure it wasn’t getting any worse.

According to the thermometer, Will’s temperature had only gone down about half a degree to 38.5°. It wasn’t quite where Jem wanted it yet, but at least it was going in the right direction. It also told Jem that the fever was just Will’s body reacting to the injuries and not from an infection, though infection would still be a risk for a while. Jem was just glad it wasn’t something he had to worry about right then.

As he leaned back in the chair, Jem was tempted to draw another energy rune so he could stay up all night for Will if need be. That probably wasn’t the best idea, though, because his eyes were burning and all he wanted to do at the moment was curl up in the chair and go to sleep. He wouldn’t be much of a help at all to Will if he was falling asleep while trying to take care of him, so he decided to actually listen to his body and didn’t take out his stele. Will seemed to be getting better and Jem knew he would wake up right away if Will started coughing, so there really wasn’t anything to worry about.

Jem did one last quick visual check on Will to make sure everything was alright, then turned around and did the same for Tessa. They both looked fine and it seemed like neither was going to wake up any time soon, so Jem relaxed back in his chair and rested his head on his hand. The chair wasn’t the most comfortable, but it would do for now.

INFERNAL.DEVICES.INFERNAL.DEVICES.INFERNAL.DEVICES

Jem was woken up an undetermined amount of time later by someone putting a blanket over him. He opened his eyes and blearily looked up at Charlotte, who was adjusted the blanket she had just put on him and hadn’t noticed him yet. He was sore all over, and even though that sort of soreness often preceded an attack, he had a feeling that it had less to do with his illness and more to do with the chair he had just slept in.

Charlotte straightened up and jumped slightly when she noticed he was awake. “Did I wake you?” she asked apologetically.

“You didn’t,” Jem said, straightening up to give his spine a break. “I don’t think I was sleeping very well anyway. I really don’t think this chair was intended for sleeping.”

Charlotte frowned at the chair. “I really don’t think so either.” She looked over at Tessa, and then at Will. “Did either of them wake up at all?”

“Will woke up and coughed, but nothing came up. He asked about Tessa and then either passed out again or went to sleep. Tessa hasn’t woken up that I know of.”

“Well, they both look alright,” Charlotte said. “Brother Enoch is going to come in and look at them again.”

“What time is it?” Jem asked. He wasn’t sure what time he had gone to sleep, but he could see light coming in through the windows, so it had to be morning.

“Almost 7:00,” Charlotte said. “Would you like some breakfast? I know it’s not our normal breakfast time but I can have Bridget make something.”

Jem nodded. “Breakfast would be nice.”

“I’ll let her know, then,” Charlotte said. “You can eat in the dining room.”

Jem was leaning forward and trying to work out the kinks that had gotten into his spine while he was sleeping and straightened up as soon as he registered what she had said. “I’ll eat in here.”

Charlotte immediately adopted what Will called the “stern mother look”. “You haven’t left the infirmary since we got back from the warehouse. You haven’t even changed your clothes yet.”

Jem looked down at Will. “I know, but I shouldn’t leave him.”

“He’ll be fine if you go take care of yourself,” Charlotte told him. “In fact, he would want you to go. Brother Enoch will be right here if anything happens. Just go get changed and clean up a little. He’ll be here when you get back.”

Jem hesitated for a second before saying, “Fine, I’ll go. If anything happens to either of them…”

“I’ll come get you right away,” Charlotte said. “I’ll also send Sophie up to get you when breakfast is ready.”

Jem reluctantly stood up and went to the door. He felt horrible for leaving his _parabatai_ , but Charlotte was right. He had to take care of himself too. He took one last look at Will, then left the infirmary for the first time since they had returned.

As usual, Jem had to walk past Will’s room to get to his. Although he knew he was doing the right thing, the sight of the door was still a painful reminder of what he had left behind in the infirmary. He closed his bedroom door behind him and waited for a second to hear Will making noise next door before he remembered.

Jem hadn’t realized how uncomfortable he had been in his gear until he changed into clean clothes. He left the dirty gear outside the door for Sophie and then took the usual morning _yin fen_. It was the last thing he wanted to do at the moment, but he couldn’t have an attack while Will still needed him.

When he was all cleaned up, Jem went back downstairs and had to stop himself from going straight to the infirmary. He would be allowed to go back after he had breakfast, but at the moment, that seemed like it would take hours.

In the dining room, Jem found Bridget setting a plate down at his usual spot. She looked up when he came in and said, “Mrs. Branwell said you aren’t to leave until you’ve finished eating. She says if you try to leave before you’re done you won’t be allowed in the infirmary.”

Jem wasn’t quite sure how Charlotte would know, but it was probably best not to argue. Instead, he sat down in his chair and started eating. He hadn’t felt hungry before, but now that he was eating, he definitely felt it. At the moment, the eggs and toast on the plate in front of him was the most delicious thing he had ever eaten. Although he didn’t want to admit it, he was glad Charlotte had made him eat.

Just as Jem was finishing his breakfast, the dining room door opened and Charlotte came in. Jem immediately dropped his fork and started standing up, but Charlotte quickly held up her hand to stop him.

“They’re both fine,” she reassured him. “No need to panic.”

Jem sat back down and picked his fork up again. Charlotte being there made him want to go to the infirmary even more, but he knew there was no way he was getting out of there without finishing his breakfast with Charlotte watching. “Is Brother Enoch finished?”

“Yes, he just finished a few minutes ago.”

“What did he say?” Jem asked.

“Well, he said that Tessa seems to be alright and she should be waking up within a day or so. She shouldn’t have any lasting effects from the injury but she might have a headache for a while.”

“And Will?”

“He’s doing much better than he was before but it’ll be a while before he’s fully recovered. His back hasn’t healed all the way yet, but _iratzes_ have never worked very quickly on him, so that’s to be expected.”

Jem finally finished his last piece of toast and immediately stood up from his chair. Charlotte smiled and said, “I think I can guess where you’re going.”

“I’m sure you’re right,” Jem said.

“You’d better get going, then,” she told him. “Brother Enoch has someone who wants to talk to you when you get there.”

Jem nodded and left the dining room. He couldn’t imagine who he was supposed to talk to, but if Brother Enoch wanted him to talk to them, it must be something important.

Brother Enoch was waiting outside of the infirmary when Jem got there. _James_ , he said as Jem walked up. _You must eager to get back to your parabatai_.

“Very eager,” Jem said. “Charlotte said he was doing better?”

Brother Enoch nodded. _He is. There should not be any lasting effects from his injuries. With time, he will fully recover._

“Thank the angel,” Jem said. He’d spent so long worrying about his _parabatai_ and now he could finally start to relax. “She also said there’s someone to talk to me.”

 _Yes, they’re waiting in the infirmary for you,_ Brother Enoch said. He opened the door for Jem and continued, _I will be speaking with Charlotte and then returning to the Silent City. I should no longer be needed here._

Jem nodded, though he really felt like jumping up and down. If Brother Enoch was leaving, then that meant that Will and Tessa had recovered enough that Brother Enoch didn’t need to stay at the Institute. As Brother Enoch walked away, Jem turned and went through the door to the infirmary. He looked up to see who Brother Enoch wanted him to talk to and instead saw-

“Will?!”

“I was wondering where you were,” Will said from where he was sitting on the infirmary bed he had spent the night on. He still looked pale, but he was awake and talking and clearly much more aware than he had been the last time he was awake. He was sitting cross-legged on the bed and holding a steaming cup of what was either one of Charlotte’s tisanes or tea.

Jem immediately rushed over to the bed. His hands were shaking like they wanted to do something to help his _parabatai_ , but there didn’t seem to be anything to do. The bandages looked like they had recently been changed and Jem could see the tip of an _iratze_ half-hidden under the bandages on the back of Will’s shoulder. “Should you really be sitting up right now?”

Will shrugged, and if Jem didn’t know him so well, he would have missed the almost imperceptible wince. “Brother Enoch said it was fine as long as I don’t lean back. He said I needed to be sitting up because I was laying down for so long.”

Jem nodded and sat down in the chair he had spent the night in. It made sense that Brother Enoch wanted Will to be sitting up. He had been laying down for longer than he usually did and being upright would help him bring up all the mucus that had accumulated over the night. “What else did he say?” Jem asked.

“He said that you need to do my therapy but only on my sides. I think the other parts are going to be slightly inaccessible for a few days.”

“As long as I do it well enough, you should be fine without the full treatment,” Jem said. “Have you eaten yet?”

“Charlotte said I’m not allowed to eat until I drink this,” Will said, pointing to the cup he was holding. “Unfortunately, it takes like what I would imagine dung to taste like. I’ll just have to go hungry.”

“I think I can help with that,” Jem said. He got up from his chair and went over to the shelves where they kept all of the medicines and salves. He didn’t immediately see what he was looking for, but he knew it was there. He’d seen it on the shelf a few days before so it was probably still in the same spot.

“What are you looking for over there?” he heard Will ask from behind him. “If you come back here with something poisonous I’m going to be very unhappy.”

“Just a second…” Jem muttered. He moved a bottle aside and finally found what he was searching for sitting behind where the other bottle had been. “There it is,” he said. He picked the jar up and took it back over to Will. “This should help.”

Will looked at the label and then up at Jem. “Why is there honey in the infirmary?”

“Apparently it’s good for sore throats, wound treatment, and making tisanes taste better.” Jem put the jar of honey down on the bedside table and then went back over to the shelves to find a spoon. Once he found one, he went back over to Will and opened the jar. Will lifted the cup up and Jem poured a spoonful of honey in, then stirred it around.

“Let’s see if that helped at all,” Will said. He took a sip of the doctored tisane and grimaced. “I’m going to need about two more spoonfuls of that if I want to eat.”

Jem added in another two spoonfuls, and then half of a spoon just to be safe. “Try that now.”

Will took another sip and nodded. “Much better. It actually tastes edible now.”

Jem closed the jar and brought it back to the shelf he had found it on with the spoon in his mouth. There was still honey stuck to it and there was no need to waste it. On his way back to Will, he saw Tessa and realized guiltily that he had forgotten about her again.

“She still hasn’t woken up,” Jem said as he sat back down in his chair.

“Brother Enoch said it might be a day or two before she wakes up. From what he and Charlotte said, she took quite a hit.”

“I didn’t see it happen,” Jem said, “but I saw the wound. It wasn’t pretty. Especially when she passed out.”

Will had been staring at the steam rising from his cup, but when he heard what Jem said, he immediately looked up with shock on his face. “She _passed out_? Was she standing when it happened?” When Jem nodded, he continued, “You caught her, right?” Jem didn’t answer, and Will somehow looked even more shocked. “You didn’t catch her?!”

“I was preoccupied!” Jem said, trying to defend himself. “You looked half dead and I wasn’t going to just leave you on the ground to catch her.”

“I’m sure I wouldn’t have minded.”

“I’m not sure you were aware enough to mind anything.”

“I don’t think so either,” Will said, frowning.

Jem looked down at his hands. “Do you remember any of it?”

“Not really,” Will said. “I just remember being in pain. Nothing specific.”

“How do you feel now?” Jem asked.

“Slightly better. It doesn’t hurt quite as much. I feel like I’m trying to breathe through a brick wall, so that’s just wonderful.” Will started coughing almost as soon as he finished speaking. Jem grabbed the empty bowl that was sitting on the bedside table just in case and waited with his eyes trained on the bandages covering Will’s back. Fortunately, no spots of blood appeared, but nothing came up. Jem reassured himself by reminding himself that Will hadn’t had his therapy in a while and had probably done a lot of coughing when he woke up as Jem was eating breakfast.

“That’s been happening a lot,” Will said when he was done coughing.

“I can imagine,” Jem said, putting the unneeded bowl back down. “You should be resting. We can do your therapy after you’re feeling better.”

“I’ll do it after Charlotte lets me eat,” Will said. He went to put the finally empty cup on the bedside table, but Jem grabbed it before he could twist too far and open up the wounds again. “Maybe she will now that that’s done.”

“Do you want me to go get her?” Jem asked.

“No, I’m sure she’ll be in soon. She’s too much of a mother hen to leave me alone for too long.”

As if on cue, the infirmary door opened and Charlotte walked in with a tray. “I see you figured out who Brother Enoch wanted you to talk to,” she said.

“I figured it out fairly quickly when I got in here,” Jem said. “Why didn’t you just tell me?”

“I wanted it to be a surprise,” Will said. “And if they had told you, you would have gone running off like a madman. I thought it would be best to avoid that.”

Jem nodded. “I think you’re right.”

Charlotte set the tray down on the bed in front of Will and he looked at it with obvious displeasure. It was obvious that he had been hoping for something more than plain broth and a small piece of bread, but Charlotte was very unlikely to bring him anything more than that, no matter how many times he asked.

“Now,” Charlotte said, “eat all of that and then lay down. You don’t have to go to sleep, but you do need to rest. I had Agatha let the broth cool for a while so you won’t be in danger of burning yourself. There will be no giving half of it to Jem and pretending you ate it all yourself. Is that clear?”

“Completely,” Will said. The exasperation in his voice went unnoticed by Charlotte but was obvious to Jem.

“Very good,” Charlotte said. She took the empty cup from the bedside table and went to the door. Will was still staring down at his food and not looking at Charlotte, but Jem saw her stop at the door and take one last look at Will, like she was making sure he was still there after that long night.

“If you eat all of that,” Jem said as soon as Charlotte was gone, “I’ll sneak into the kitchen and get you a chocolate tart.”

Will was still glaring at what he thought was a dismal excuse for a meal, but his face instantly lit up when he heard the words “chocolate tart”. He quickly grabbed the spoon sitting next to the bowl and put it in, but then stopped. He didn’t say anything, but Jem knew exactly what he was thinking.

“I wouldn’t recommend trying to drink it,” he said before Will could try it. “I really can’t imagine it ending well.”

“I’ll never get my chocolate tart,” Will grumbled, but he resigned himself to using the spoon anyway.

INFERNAL.DEVICES.INFERNAL.DEVICES.INFERNAL.DEVICES

Half an hour later, Jem was walking back to the infirmary with his contraband tucked safely in a napkin in his pocket. He had gone to the kitchen under the guise of bringing Will’s dishes back, but he hadn’t left empty-handed. Agatha wasn’t a problem and probably wouldn’t have cared if Jem had explained what he was doing, but Charlotte was the problem. If she knew what Jem had in his pocket, she would be very unhappy and he would likely get a lecture about how Will was injured and not feeling well and needed to get his strength up and chocolate tarts were not something that would do that.

As Jem opened the infirmary door, he saw Will and realized how exhausted he looked. He had been either asleep or unconscious all night, but Jem doubted that it was at all restful. Charlotte had said that he didn’t need to go to sleep when he was done eating, but he probably would without even trying.

“Did you get it?” Jem heard. It snapped him out of his thoughts and he realized that Will was staring at him like it was Christmas morning.

“Of course,” Jem said as he crossed the infirmary to get to Will. “Did you doubt me?”

“I thought Charlotte was going to catch you,” Will said. “She has eyes everywhere.”

“Not where I was, apparently.” Jem pulled the tart out of his pocket and unwrapped it.

Will had barely finished saying “Thank you” before he grabbed the tart and took a bite. It was gone within a minute and Jem found himself holding in a laugh at the disappointed look on Will’s face.

“Any chance there’s more where that came from?” Will asked.

“Not at all,” Jem said. “I already put my life on the line for that one and I need to do your therapy before you fall asleep sitting up.”

“I will not!” Will protested, but the dark lines under his eyes contradicted him.

“Sure. Do you want to do it right away or should we wait a minute?” Jem asked. The coughing caused by Will’s physical therapy sometimes made him throw up, so doing it so soon after eating was just asking for trouble.

Will grimaced but said, “Let’s just get it over with. It’s only my sides so it shouldn’t be too bad. I may need some help laying down, though.”

“Of course,” Jem said. “Ready?”

Will nodded reluctantly and, a few very painful minutes later, he was laying on his left side on the bed while Jem got a bowl and a cloth ready. They usually used a bowl while doing his physical therapy, but Jem wasn’t sure if Will was going to be able to sit up enough to use it, so the cloth was there just in case. Once everything was ready, he pulled his chair closer to the bed and sat down. He would have had to bend over quite a lot to do Will’s therapy standing and there was no need to tire himself out from that.

“Let me know if I need to stop,” Jem said as he got his hands into the right position.

Will rolled his eyes, trying to make himself look tougher than he really was at the moment. “I’ll see what I can do.”

INFERNAL.DEVICES.INFERNAL.DEVICES.INFERNAL.DEVICES

It was probably one of the shortest and least enjoyable physical therapy sessions either of them had done. It only took about half the time of a normal session, but it came with many more downsides than usual. For example, there was a lot more coughing and a lot more mucus than there usually was. Will hadn’t had his usual therapy the night before for obvious reasons, and he had been laying down for hours, which never helped with the amount of mucus in his lungs. They also had to deal with some barely healed wounds, which made the session much more difficult. Jem had had to pause a few times to let the pain die down before he continued, and turning Will onto his other side had been quite the ordeal.

Jem stood up from his chair and picked up the bowl they had used to take it to be washed. Will was laying almost face down on the bed, looking even more exhausted than he had before, if it was at all possible.

“You could go to sleep, you know,” Jem said as he set the bowl down with the other things to be washed.

The reply took long enough that Jem thought Will had already fallen asleep, but then he heard Will mumble, “I don’t think that’ll be necessary.”

Jem laughed and said, “I think it is. I don’t think it would take much effort with how tired you look.”

The only reply Jem got was a quiet snore from the direction of Will’s bed. He turned around to see him fast asleep with his mouth hanging open and a small wet spot slowly forming under his mouth from the drool. Jem smiled and, after getting a fresh bowl from the shelves, went back over to Will. He put the bowl down on the bedside table and pulled the sheet up farther over Will. He was probably going to be asleep for a while, so there was really no need for Jem to sit there and wait anymore. He finally knew that Will was alright and despite still being somewhat worried, he knew that Will wasn’t in any immediate danger.

Jem looked over the supplies laid out on the bedside table to see what else he would need. He would have to make a quick trip to the library and Will’s room, but then he would be able to finally lay down and sleep in a real bed for the first time in a while. He made a mental list of everything he would need as he turned to leave.

Jem stopped at the door and looked back at Will like Charlotte had. It had been a very long night, but now he knew that Will and Tessa were safe and the danger was gone. He could finally relax knowing that his friends would be fine.

Jem smiled as Will muttered something about chocolate in his sleep and closed the door behind him.

INFERNAL.DEVICES.INFERNAL.DEVICES.INFERNAL.DEVICES

Will woke up, forgot where he was and what had happened, and tried to roll over. He was immediately stopped by a very sharp pain in his back, which instantly brought back the memories of what had happened the night before. It also brought on a coughing fit, which just made the situation worse. It was a few minutes before he was able to breathe normally again, and by that time, he knew he was going to need another painkilling rune and possibly another _iratze_.

Will was about to look around to see if there was anyone nearby with a stele when he noticed the bedside table. He remembered it being empty the last time he had seen it, but now it held a stele, a bowl, and a few books. He very gingerly reached up and picked up the stele, then drew an _iratze_ and a painkilling rune as close to his back as he could get. Once that was done, he put the stele back down and picked up one of the books. They were all ones that he liked, so he knew exactly who had put them there. Jem was the only one who really knew which books Will liked.

Just before he opened the book, something caught his eye and he was instantly reminded of the person who was sharing the infirmary with him. Tessa hadn’t woken up at all yet when he’d fallen asleep, and it looked like she still hadn’t. Although he was very worried about the effect that the head wound would have on her, he was glad it wasn’t any worse than that. He had protected her from the worst of the explosion. He certainly wasn’t enjoying the aftereffects of protecting her, but it was something he would do again in a heartbeat.

Will finally pulled his eyes away from Tessa and opened the book. He’d read it before, but that was fine. He wasn’t sure he had the mental capacity at the moment to read something new. Besides, it was just something to do to pass the time until he fell asleep again or was allowed to go back to his room. Judging from how tired his eyes felt, he had a feeling he knew which one would come first.

He had almost gotten through the first chapter when he heard a noise next to him and turned to look. He didn’t know what he had been expecting, but it certainly wasn’t what he saw.

Tessa was looking back at him.


End file.
